Today’s A New Day

Today’s a new day, but there is no sunshine……Even though I hurt see I smile.

Life, full of ups and downs, medical and mental health diagnoses, better and worse, and so on …

A lot of our life is what we have made of it, everything in life is a result of a decision we have made…or chosen not to make. Everything…

I know that a lot of the behavior we have is based on decisions I’ve made as David’s mama. I know that our ‘downs’ are based on decisions we have made – whether it be poor money decisions, poor choice of words, or something else.

We have all made mistakes, or outright poor decisions. We have all sinned, we have all fallen short in dieting, budgeting, marriage, parenting, or something else.

What we do have, however, is a God who loves us, who sent the Son to be sin for us, so that we can become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21) When we go to Him, repent, ask forgiveness, Our Father blots our transgressions and forgives our sins.

I like to imagine sitting with God, and the conversation would be something like this…

Father, I know I messed up. I gave in too many times, I surrendered in too many battles. Lord, I am so sorry that I have let the behavior come this far, get this out of control. God, I didn’t know what to do…I am sorry. I want this to get better, I want to be the parent that my son needs, not the one that I thought I should be. Will you please forgive me, and help me do better?

At this point, God would pull out a soft little hankie, blot away my tears – one for each of the times I’ve messed up this mama thing. He would pull me close to him, let me weep the way I need to, and he would say…

Lena, no earthly parent is perfect. I know that you love your son, and you are a good mama. Those times when things weren’t perfect, or you stumbled, they’re gone. I have forgotten them, it’s time for you to stop beating yourself up. Today’s a new day! Now, put your big girl panties on and let’s get busy!

We would both giggle about big girl panties, we would make a plan, and we would move forward. There would be no condemnation, no judgement, only mercy, love, forgiveness, and a future that can only be better because of how awesome God’s love is for us.

I would still have to live with the consequences for my mistakes, I would still have a lot of work to right my wrongs, but they would still be forgiven and forgotten in the eyes of our Almighty Creator.

If our Father, the creator of Heaven and Earth, shows mercy, forgives, forgets, and loves us through our problems…

Why can’t people?

Why do we feel that it is necessary to point out the flaws in one another? Why do we feel it necessary to dwell on past mistakes? Must we find a place to lay blame?

When someone comes to me, admitting a mistake and asking for help, I need to be more like God. I should pull my hankie out, wipe their tears, hug them, forgive them, and make a plan for moving forward.

I need to work on showing mercy, judging less, forgiving more, dwelling less, and most of all, loving a whole lot more.

What about you? Do you need to show more mercy and less judgement? Do you need to forgive a few past mistakes, let them go, choose not to dwell on them?

Today’s a new day! Let’s show some mercy and love to those around us, help them smile!

Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;Luke 6:37